Take card payments on your phone: 33 providers compared

The technology that turns an ordinary phone into a card machine is called SoftPOS. We have recorded 105 providers across 14 world regions, documented their published fees and scored them against a method we set out in full — so you can see in five minutes which one fits your business.

Editorial: SoftPOS24 Payment ResearchUpdated: 15.08.2026Data set: 121 providers, 14 criteria
In short

SoftPOS is software that turns a standard smartphone into a contactless card reader over NFC, with no separate terminal. Of the 105 providers in our database, 33 serve the UK market. The lowest documented rate here is 0.50% (Teya, under a membership model, from a secondary source); the lowest with no monthly fee is 0.79% (SumUp). Fifteen of the 33 publish no price at all, and only ten document PCI MPoC certification.

105
providers in the database
33
available in the UK
45
records checked at source
14
world regions covered
5
language editions
How we make money: SoftPOS24 is funded by clearly labelled advertising and by monthly listing fees paid by providers. The ranking order is not for sale — it comes solely from the points formula published on our methodology page, and providers with no commercial relationship with us are treated exactly the same.

The highest-scoring providers for this market

Scored on price transparency (30%), market coverage (25%), platform coverage (15%), security certification (15%) and card acceptance (15%). See the formula →

Highest rated overall
1

Stripe

SDK / white label · iOS + Android · 29 markets · Europe

4.5out of 5
Rating 1.4excellent91 out of 100 points
Transaction fee
from 1.50%
Monthly fee
none
Certification
PCI DSS
Data quality
source verified
  • no monthly fee
  • Apple Pay and Google Pay
  • available in 29 markets
  • no MPoC certification stated
View provider profileProvider's own source

Compare all 33 providers →

Who this suits — and who it does not

Type of businessSuitable?What matters
Market trader, food van, mobile tradesVery goodNo terminal to buy or rent, no fixed monthly cost, your own phone and its battery are the whole kit. Check what happens when the signal drops.
Hairdresser, barber, beauty and therapy roomsVery goodFew payments a day, so a monthly fee hurts more than the percentage does. A no-monthly-fee deal usually wins.
Sole trader invoicing at the customer's doorGoodLook at payout speed and whether the money lands in your existing business account or one you have to open.
Café, pub or restaurant with table serviceGoodCheck tipping, split bills and whether the app talks to your till. Card acceptance on a phone does not replace your EPOS or your bookkeeping.
Shop with high card volumeLimitedAbove roughly £2,200 a month a deal with a monthly fee and a lower rate often costs less; above that again, a rented terminal on interchange++ can beat both. Run your own numbers on the <a href="/en/costs/">costs page</a>.
Unattended: vending, fuel pumps, self-serviceNoPCI MPoC does not cover unattended operation, and no provider in our database offers it for that use.

What makes this comparison different

Most pages that rank for terms like card reader comparison belong to one of the providers being compared, and that provider comes first. We are not a payment provider and never will be. Three things follow from that:

  1. Every price has a source. Each provider profile records the page the figure came from and whether we read it on the provider's own site or only in a secondary source.
  2. We score only what we can evidence. The score measures price transparency, reach, platform support, certification and card acceptance — not an invented test verdict for an app we have not used.
  3. Providers who hide their prices are marked down, not hidden. "Price on request" is itself information about a provider, and it costs points.

Common questions

What is SoftPOS, in one sentence?

SoftPOS, sometimes called tap to phone or mobile point of sale, is software that uses the NFC chip already in a standard phone to accept contactless cards, Apple Pay and Google Pay. There is no dongle, no cable and no separate card machine — the customer taps the back of your handset.

Do I still need a card reader?

No, and that is the difference from a mobile card machine such as a SumUp or Zettle reader. Those are small terminals that pair with your phone over Bluetooth. With SoftPOS the phone itself is the terminal, so there is nothing extra to buy, charge or lose. Both models appear in our comparison.

Which provider is cheapest in the UK?

On headline transaction fee alone, the lowest figure we have documented for this market is 0.50% from Teya under a membership model, followed by SumUp at 0.79% and Revolut Business at 0.80% with a £10 monthly fee. The rate alone decides nothing — see the full breakdown on our costs page.

Is taking card payments on a phone secure?

Security is governed by the PCI standard MPoC, which replaced CPoC and SPoC. Card data is never stored in the clear on the handset and PIN entry runs in a hardened software environment. Check whether a provider actually documents MPoC: only ten of the 33 providers in this market do.

How quickly do I get my money?

Next working day is the common case in the UK, and some providers settle the same day or instantly into an account they issue themselves. We record payout timing on each profile but do not score it, because providers describe it too inconsistently for the figures to be compared fairly.

I am not in the UK — does this page still apply?

Partly. This edition is written for UK merchants and is also served to readers with no local edition. Availability, pricing and card schemes differ sharply by country, so use the region filter in the full comparison to see the 105 providers filtered down to your own market.